Majority of young viewers for a Super League

Real Madrid fans

In Spain, approval for a European Super League is growing again.

(Photo: Reuters)

Munich The controversial project of a European “Super League” in football is causing a generational conflict – at least if you believe the figures from the Wiesbaden sports marketing agency ONE8Y. The data experts, who also work for the DFB and DFL, surveyed a total of 10,090 people interested in football in the five largest markets in Europe in an online study.

The result: Among fans “under 25 years of age” the approval of the planned top league is significantly higher than among all respondents. According to this, 59 percent of the young target group supported the Super League, while overall approval was only 42 percent.

Apparently, gaming experiences play a role, but also lower bonding forces to traditional club values. The generation of “up-and-coming fans” is not won over with tradition and past successes – “but with entertaining formats, superstars and entertainment,” comments Hendrik Fischer, CEO of ONE8Y.

Real Madrid, the main initiator of the Super League plans, justified the innovation, which was funded with a lot of capital, with precisely such arguments. ONE8Y emphasizes that it did the research on its own initiative and not on behalf of a customer. It sees itself as the “world’s first license-based market research database in sports business” that evaluates statistics from more than 40 markets on sports business topics.

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Twelve European football clubs, including Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Juventus Turin, caused considerable protests in April 2021 with their attempt to found a European Super League. Not only Uefa was up in arms, numerous fan groups and the then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced their fierce resistance.

With success: In the weeks that followed, several clubs such as Manchester United and Chelsea FC withdrew their participation in the project – until the project was finally shelved. The major bank JP Morgan, which should finance the project, apologized publicly.

Andrea Agnelli

The former boss of the Italian football club Juventus Turin has since resigned.

(Photo: imago images/Nicolo Campo)

But the idea of ​​the Super League is apparently becoming more attractive again, according to evaluations by ONE8Y, especially in Spain. Here the approval value of the 2000 interviewees is 60 percent, in the young target group even 67 percent.

However, Spain is the only country with a certain amount of euphoria for the mega football project. In all other markets considered – France, Italy, Germany and England – the proportion of supporters is well below 50 percent.

Across all the answers and European markets surveyed, however, it is noticeable that the Super League is becoming more attractive, according to expert Fischer: “Even if the majority of those surveyed reject this league based on the status quo, it is striking that a non-existent league is already in this approach can gain ground over existing formats.”

More: Accounting scandal shakes Juventus Turin – complete club management resigns.

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